Police minister Cele calls on other departments to help tackle criminality in EC

Police minister Bheki Cele has called on other government departments to get involved in the fight against crime.

Cele, along with national police commissioner Gen Fannie Masemola and his management team, launched Operation Shanela in Gelvandale in the Eastern Cape on Friday. 

He urged government departments to urgently address the drivers of criminality in areas grappling with high crime levels and gangsterism. 

Cele said he had noted with concern during a walkabout in Gelvandale the high number of children of school-going age loitering around during school hours. “These areas need far more than law enforcement to make life better. It is very clear that police alone won’t win the war on crime.

“The high number of children not going to school pushes them towards criminality and gangsterism. This is why we again make the call for a whole government and whole society approach to fighting crime,” he said.

He called on the government to descend on the Eastern Cape and other areas in the country with similar problems to address the drivers of crime by dealing with issues of education, human settlement, unemployment and other socioeconomic factors.

“What is clear in this place, the police or law enforcement alone can't win the war. The question of drugs, high level of children not attending school. You see young people aged 16 and 17 saying that they are done with school. That feeds into gangsterism and criminality.”    

Since the inception of Operation Shanela — an intensified and aggressive response to crime — in May, more than 100,000 suspects have been arrested for serious and violent crimes including murder, rape, robbery and possession of firearms and drugs.

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